


Guardian

by perniciousLizard



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Major Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:25:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9596225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perniciousLizard/pseuds/perniciousLizard
Summary: Sans isn't supposed to make it, but Papyrus is not going to let that happen.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is from day 2 of a [30 day writing challenge](http://alloftheprompts.tumblr.com/post/140164465078/30-day-challenge-write-about-family-this-month). The prompt was **siblings**.

Sans woke up sometimes, and Papyrus was always there.  He was bright, loud, and, most importantly, encouraging.  He held Sans’ small hand and filled in the silence in between Sans’ few struggling statements.  Sans usually tried a joke, or, sometimes, a reassurance.  

Monster skeleton bones were always a little warm.  They were more magic than anything else.  Papyrus had never thought it strange.  

Sans seemed cold. Papyrus found his gloves and pulled them on for him and got the blankets out of his own bedroom and piled as many as he could on top of Sans’ still body.  

Papyrus paced around the room, trying to think of something else to do.  He went through the stack of books he had already read.  He had found Sans’ favorite physics and joke books, and his favorite books to read to Papyrus.  Even the joke books hadn’t woken Sans up for longer than a few minutes.  

“kind’ve missing lungs if you’re lookin to smother me,” Sans mumbled.  

“I WILL FIND THE EXACT NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU NEED!”  Papyrus yanked them off.

Sans weakly curled up.  His eye sockets stayed closed and his rib cage slowly rose and fell.  "more ‘n this, less than a hundred."

Papyrus was just glad to hear him saying anything, even if it was a complaint.  He tried a single blanket and tucked him in.  

"maybe one more'n that,” he said.  

Papyrus wrapped him up in a blanket cocoon.  He looked safe, in there.  

“never moved my arms much anyways.”  

“SANS, IF YOU ARE AWAKE, I MUST INSIST YOU TAKE IN SOME SUSTENANCE!”  

“eh.”

“IT IS WHAT YOUR BELOVED BROTHER WOULD DO, IF HE WERE IN YOUR POSITION!”  

“mn.”  

Papyrus ran out of the room and quickly heated up some junk food Grillby had given him to try and convince Sans to eat.  He hurried back up and Sans hadn’t moved at all since he left him.  

“THIS HORRIBLE SMELL MUST BE VERY FAMILIAR,” Papyrus said.  

“’s that…”

“JUST THIS ONCE, YOU MAY EAT GREASED GARBAGE, SINCE YOU SEEM TO PREFER IT.”

“guess i’m dying.”

Papyrus went very still.  "NO!  ABSOLUTELY NOT!"  He hiccuped.  "I KNOW THAT IT IS YOUR NATURE TO BE LAZY AND GIVE UP, BUT THIS IS ONE POINT WHERE YOUR BROTHER WILL NOT ALLOW IT!”  

Sans was quiet.  

Papyrus gripped his shoulders, his fingers digging into the blankets.  "THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES.  HE WILL READ YOU AWFUL JOKES AND FEED YOU FOOD THAT IS ONLY CONSIDERED TO BE FOOD ON A TECHNICALITY."

One of Sans’ eye sockets cracked open.

"YOUR FIRST PRIORITY, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, IS TO NOT GIVE UP!”

“ok.”  He closed his eye again.  

“SANS?”  

“yeah.”  

“PLEASE?”

“ok.”  

He propped Sans up a little and freed his arms from the blankets.  "IS THIS DISGUSTING SMELL NOT SOMEHOW APPETIZING?"  Papyrus held a french fry in front of Sans’ face.  

Sans tried a few fries, and Papyrus could tell he was only doing it to make him feel better.  Papyrus did not care why he ate.  

"love you, bro,” Sans said, as Papyrus settled him back down.  "no matter what."

"OF COURSE.  I LOVE YOU, TOO.”  He took Sans’ gloved hand again.  

“tired.”

“I KNOW.  IT IS FINE IF YOU NEED TO REST, SO LONG AS YOU…TAKE A BREAK FROM IT.”

“ok.”  

It was hours before Sans said anything else.  When he woke up, he picked at his food, but didn’t complain.  

Papyrus read to him. Sans didn’t react to much, but his eyes were partially open and he seemed to be listening.  

When Papyrus set the book down, Sans said, “you’re so cool.”

“THANK YOU!  I AM AWARE OF MY MANY POSITIVE QUALITIES.”  

“you’d do ok even if i wasn’t around.”

“WHAT?”  Papyrus reached up and touched his own chest.  There was a pain there, suddenly.  "WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE OKAY WITHOUT YOU?"

"you’ll be great, no matter what.”

“AND YOU WILL BE RIGHT THERE TO WITNESS THAT GREATNESS.”  

“’m just tired.”  

“SO YOU SHOULD SLEEP, AND THEN WAKE UP AGAIN AND EAT SOME MORE.  AND THEN YOU WILL REST SOME MORE, AND EVERY TIME YOU WAKE UP, YOU WILL BE JUST A LITTLE BIT STRONGER.  AND I WILL BE HERE.”  

“how’d you get so good?”  He closed his eyes.  "not from me.  these lazy bones just want to sleep."

"YOU MAY NOT BE AS GOOD AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IT IS TRUE, BUT YOU ARE…VERY IMPORTANT.”

“don’t really want to wake up.”  

“BUT YOU WILL.  PLEASE.”  

“ok.”  

Sans had trouble holding a spoon, the next time he woke up.  He was too weak to keep it steady.  Papyrus helped.  Sans moved like there was a heavy weight making every movement nearly impossible.  

“I KNOW THIS IS HARD.  I AM PROUD OF YOU,” Papyrus said.  

“heh.”  He blinked a few times, a little too fast.  

Papyrus dragged the television upstairs.  Sometimes Sans would be too tired to talk, but he would stay awake for a while and listen to the television. Papyrus would comment on what was going on, and describe it when Sans had his eyes closed.  

“sorry.”  The television volume was low, but Papyrus could barely hear him.

“I AM NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE APOLOGIZING FOR, BUT IF YOU ARE VERY SORRY, YOU WILL MAKE IT UP TO ME BY PUSHING YOURSELF TO GET BETTER.”  

“gonna keep beating that same drum, huh.”  

“OF COURSE I AM.  YOU ARE MY BROTHER, AND I LOVE YOU.”

“love you too, bro.”  Sans rolled onto his back and sighed.  "this is sure a pain, though."  He started to prop himself up on his elbows. "ugh.”  Papyrus helped him sit up.  

“YOU ARE DOING VERY WELL,” Papyrus said.  They had let him bring Sans home because he was not supposed to make it, and he would be more comfortable surrounded by his own things.  "YOU CAN TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS YOU NEED."  He was not going to let himself think about how Sans had not been expected to make it.  There was a pain in his ribcage he needed to ignore.

"jeez.  what’s all this?  c'mere.”  

“I AM NOT CRYING!  THERE IS JUST SOMETHING IN MY EYE SOCKETS.”  It important that he be strong enough for two skeletons.  

“well, wipe it on my shirt.  i don’t care.”  

Papyrus closed his eyes, for a second, hot tears trailing down his face.  "I AM COMPLETELY FINE."  He hugged his brother, pressing his face against Sans’ stale-smelling shirt until it was soaked through.  

"i’m ok,” Sans said.  "it’s ok."

"NO, YOU ARE NOT.”  

“sure i am.  never been better.”  

“NYEHEH.” He pulled back.  "WELL, I CERTAINLY HOPE THAT IS NOT TRUE."  He looked Sans over.  He had almost been able to pretend Sans really was ok when he wasn’t looking at him.  His eye sockets felt damp again.

"c'mon.  i’m not that ugly.  i’ve got some fans.”  

Papyrus turned off the television for a while and read to him.  He picked Fluffy Bunny, since it was something they would both enjoy.  When he closed the book, he could tell Sans was ready to sleep again.

“hey, paps?” he said, as Papyrus properly tucked him in.  

“YES?”

“i’ll be ok.”

“…DO YOU PROMISE?”

“uh.  yeah. sure, ok.”  

“THEN OF COURSE I BELIEVE YOU!  EVERY DAY, YOU MUST GET A LITTLE STRONGER.”  

“every day,” Sans repeated.  He sighed.  "got it.“  

"I WILL BE HERE.”  

“i know.”

Whenever Sans fell asleep, Papyrus threw himself into tasks to push away the fear that his brother might not wake up again.  But, he did.  


End file.
